When someone asks you, “Hey, what do you think about…” whatever, how well do you know and trust your initial ideas?  This week we’re formulating “first thoughts.”

First thoughts are a fantastic tool. Not just intuition, but spontaneous, precognitive answers, the instantaneous output of all you’ve learned and experienced. These ideas are easily discounted and suppressed because they came so easily. Perhaps, they should be elevated to help you build confidence by demonstrating your first thoughts are valuable.

First thoughts aren’t generally complete, but they’re honest, and provide a glimpse of something far bigger. But not all “first thoughts” are created equal. Are they motivated by fear or urgency?  From a desire for a short cut or an “easy gain?” First thoughts of this sort should be paused and more closely examined.  When feeling pressured to “answer now,” we rarely access inspired thinking.

If, however, your emotions are grounded and intentions are pure, such as growing, helping, learning, loving, then you are more free to access spontaneous, elevated ideas. A relaxed, yet focused mind learns to synthesize before analyzing, delivering higher quality initial offerings.

Because first thoughts come quickly, they surprise us, and we hedge our bets, saying things like, “This can’t be right, but…” or “this probably isn’t a good idea, but…”  Please don’t do that! Instead, say “This just came to me, so I haven’t thought it through yet, but what about …” Stay in curiosity, rather than judgement.

With experience you expand perspective, gather data, and gain evidence that your instincts have proven out in the past. When this happens, your confidence and ability to scale ideas multiplies. You shift from, “Well, let me get back to you on that.” to, “Well, my first thoughts on are…” Boom. Now, that one change is enormous, because instead of creating a bottleneck, you’re maintaining momentum and enlisting others to help. Think of how that both elevates and liberates you!

This week, give those first thoughts some extra attention, and a bit more respect. Step in with confidence to express what comes to mind. Until next week, stay Off Balance On Purpose.